Sliding door assemblies are typically known as doors having a sash supporting a glass panel that covers a substantial portion of the door, with the sliding door slidingly mounted to a frame so as to slide with respect to the frame. Sliding door assemblies often include a sliding door and a fixed door mounted to a frame consisting of a head, a sill and jambs.
Aluminum is an elegant, light and resistant material that is readily extruded into complex sections, whereby it is a well suited material for at least an external cladding of a sliding door. However, a great disadvantage of the use of aluminum extruded sections for sliding doors is the high thermal conductivity of aluminum. Aluminum is an excellent heat conductor. In a cold climate, a sliding door sash solely consisting of aluminum sections can easily become very cold and thus cause condensation or ice formation on an interior surface of the sash or on the glass panel. Furthermore, the high thermal conductivity of aluminum causes high heat losses to sashes formed of aluminum sections.
Some sliding door assemblies incorporate numerous thermal breaks to improve the thermal insulation thereof. For example, various components are used to construct the frame and sashes to divide them into internal and external portions. For instance, some sliding door assemblies found on the market are constructed of four sections, including an external thermal cladding and an internal glass cladding in an insulated frame that consists of PVC extrusions. The insulating sections permit the use of aluminum sections, as they compensate, or isolate the highly conductive aluminum outer cladding.
The needs of consumers have evolved towards products of higher performance that remain simple in use, that are flexible and are esthetically appealing. Aluminum remains a well suited material for components constituting sliding doors. For instance, aluminum sections are resistant to deformation caused by climatic changes. However, where sliding doors are composed of numerous sections and the sliding doors are subjected to great temperature differentials between interior and exterior temperatures, the difference in expansion of the various components of a sliding door can result in the deformation thereof. Furthermore, differences in thermal expansion of components can cause damage to the seals of the sliding door and result in water infiltration and air leaks, and create problems in the sliding of the door with respect to the frame. Also, having numerous sections involves a greater number of components and requires more manpower for the assembly thereof because of the increased complexity.
There is also a need to provide a sliding door assembly with fewer component parts that are easy to assemble together and which provide for a variety of different claddings to suit the customer needs.